SLAVERY IN 2017!

V0050647 Group of men and women being taken to a slave market
Credit: Wellcome Library, London. Wellcome Images
images@wellcome.ac.uk
http://wellcomeimages.org
Group of African men, women and children captured and in shackles, are herded by men with whips and guns in order to become slaves.
"Band of captives driven into slavery"
Lithograph
1880 Published: ca. 1880.
Copyrighted work available under Creative Commons Attribution only licence CC BY 4.0 http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Slave auction that occurred in the North African nation of Libya…slavery in 2017!

Teresa Clarke, the Executive Editor of Africa.com (herself an African American and descendant of those enslaved in the United States) recently wrote in response to reports, “…this shocking story, including video footage, exposing a current day slave trade in Libya that looks, sounds and feels like Goree Island (Senegal’s “Door of No Return” slavery memorial) circa 1780. The images are arresting. No one would imagine that West Africans are being sold in North Africa on an auction block as “big, strong boys for farm work” for $400 in 2017. Yet, that is what CNN discovered.”

Aside from the expected expressions of anger, outrage, shock and disgust, what is actually being done to STOP THIS?!!

AFRICA’S RESPONSE

There has been tremendous criticism, as it should be, from across the African continent. Those most revolted, coming from the West African nations where many of the migrants were born. There is not only anger, but calls for punishment for those engaging in the worst crime against humanity in the history of humanity!

Niger – President Mahamadou Issoufou summoned the Libyan ambassador to Niger and DEMANDS that the International Court of Justice investigate Libya for trading slaves…something for which this court should be well-suited to do, aggressively!

African Union – The issue has since been added to the agenda of next week’s African Union meeting in Ivory Coast, to take place on November 29 and 30.

Ivory Coast – 155 Ivorian refugees, including 89 women and underage migrants, were returned from Libya to the Ivory Coast earlier this week as part of a reintegration initiative launched by the European Union. Representatives of the Ivorian government, however, said that the health of those migrants returned from Libya was in a “deplorable state.”

Libya – The country’s internationally recognized government, which is also supported by the UN, has announced that it will launch an investigation. Ahmed Omar Maiteeq, Vice Chairman of the presidential council of Libya, announced the establishment of a commission to that end.

Chad – Moussa Faki Mahamat, the chairman of the African Union Commission and Chad’s foreign minister, issued a statement saying “he strongly condemns these despicable acts which are at odds with the ideals of the Founding Fathers of our Organization and relevant African and international instruments, including the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, who he urged to assist the Libyans with their investigation.

Rwanda – Rwanda has offered, since the scandal broke, to take in 30,000 Africans from Libya. “Given our own history…we cannot remain silent when human beings are being mistreated and auctioned off like cattle”.

EVERBODY KNEW…

Aid workers, human rights groups and analysts say they had been shouting about rape, torture and forced work for thousands of black Africans in the war-torn north African country until they were blue in the face! In fact, they are calling HYPOCRISY on the African and other global leaders who are rushing to express their outrage and rally behind those sold in slavery.

“Ordinary people aside, everyone knew about this — governments, international organizations, political leaders,” said Hamidou Anne, a Senegalese analyst at think-tank L’Afrique des Idees.

Alioune Tine, Amnesty International’s West Africa director, said “hostage-takings, violence, torture and rape” were well documented in Libya. “And we’ve been talking about slavery for a long time”.

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